


toe to toe, back to back (let's go)

by valkyrierising



Category: Shades of Magic - V. E. Schwab
Genre: Character Study, Deleted Scenes, F/M, Multiple Orgasms, Other, POV Multiple, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Threesome - F/M/M, vaguely
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-05
Updated: 2017-07-05
Packaged: 2018-11-23 18:03:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11407674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valkyrierising/pseuds/valkyrierising
Summary: “Are you going to get involved or are you just gonna stand there with your mouth open?” She throws to Kell as she’s all but moved onto ripping his own shirt off. There’s still fury laced through her actions but part of it is only actually active and the rest is what he’s come to find out about Delilah Bard. She’s got a tempest inside of her, a body in constant motion, going through life like those knives she likes.





	toe to toe, back to back (let's go)

**Author's Note:**

> there's no excuse for this besides i really wanted the three of them to bang, especially after Holland saved Lila's life. title comes from alt-j's 'tessellate.'

It’s Kell who suggests it, of all the people. She didn’t think it coming from him  - they all wanted to get rid of the Shadow King but to suggest _this?_ She eyes Holland, her hands itching for a knife, to stick it through him and maybe Kell too for good measure.

 

Holland stills - like a rabbit caught as he watches the two of them and glances back at her because he knows that between the two of them she’s the one with the quick fingers and knives that sing to her. The knives she makes sing in turn, remembering how Delilah’s muscle memory sank into his when they were under the Sea Serpents attack. The Antari binding rings would be useful if they were closer, if he were like _them_ and less broken but it didn’t stop the unease inside as he shares the power with them. After all, he was the one who suggested to be the anchor and he was the one that wanted Osaron but they had skin in the fight as well. She was the one who had snarled at tying herself to him, wanted nothing to do with tying herself to him, but between her and Kell, there was something like…. hope that Osaron could be defeated that he dared not think on longer.

 

-

 

She doesn’t linger upon Kell’s proposition longer, letting instinct crash through her and take over. She wants to fight, to tear something apart (tear Holland apart for Barron and for Kell and for unleashing the Shadow King) but settles for trying to instigate a fight. He saved her and she didn’t trust him at all, didn’t trust that who she was fighting with was fully present, the dangerous ‘what if’ trilling through her head as she thinks _what if he falls again._ She’s fast, but he’s skilled as well -  the two of them in a dangerous dance meeting each other blow for blow. Her with her lethal grace and him with his stealth that was always just out of her reach. She’s frustrated and annoyed. Kell looks on in dismay. If he thought this would be roses, he was out of his mind. Besides, she needed to shake the energy from her bones, the weird feeling of having Kell and Holland’s magic besides her own an odd sensation. They manipulated all elements but everyone favored something and them alongside hers was a wild rush inside; she didn’t want to let herself give into lest she sink them all. So she settles for a physical brawl with Holland.

 

-

 

Delilah’s a whirlwind, her magic unconstrained and wild inside of her. Her body is a lethal weapon and combined with her magic, she could have been dangerous. If they had more time maybe he could make her into something more formidable but what was there would have to do. For now, he focuses on how she’s overexerting herself, that despite her grace and ease in physical fighting, he notes that she doesn’t take out her knives despite her fingers itching for them. He narrows his eyes at the thought of her holding back against him but is disabused of the notion when she comes flying at him from the side. All the while he continues tsk-ing in his head as he feels the tug of their magic through the rings, can almost feel her annoyance radiating him directly at him. Holland catches her hand back easily, holding her body against his as she hisses. Something inside her snaps as she slackens in his grip, startling him for a split second before she throws them both down together. The sweep of her legs catches him swiftly before they’ve hit the floor, tries to avoid her landing atop of him and failing as she gains the upper-hand

 

“This changes nothing,” she says, finger jabbed at his throat as if it were her knife. He swallows, lifting a hand to grab at the finger.

 

“It doesn’t matter what it changes. It happened,” he returns, watches as she narrows her eyes at him for a few long seconds before she steals a feather-light kiss from him. Delilah is a pain, but useful, and there’s raw magic that surges inside of her that bleeds through the rings that he can feel. Something inside of him unravels at her kiss, whether it’s because it’s an echo of Talya he had no reason to be feeling, or that he’s had it with Delilah’s attitude. He grabs a fistful of hair, the shortness of it going to her neck that he lets his nail drag across it to keep her from moving. He returns her kiss hard. The feather light kiss she had given him turns into something harder; Delilah was nothing if not a tightly coiled viper, biting at his lips with a vicious grip on his shoulders. He rolls them so she’s underneath, holding her hips and hand down with his body, taking in her kiss like it’s air. She moves from under him slightly, squirming that he'd think to let her go if her breaths weren't so hard and a flush wasn't across her neck. There is a balance they must find - this was an option. It’d been awhile since he’s been in any type of sexual situation but given his circumstances, he’s rather glad of it. Things inside of him were broken, jagged edges on things that shouldn’t have been broken that weren’t like that before the Danes.

 

He suspects it’s why they were the last Antari - the survivors really,as Kell sacrificed his life to save his brother, binding them while what he knows of the Bard girl is that she fights for every breath - a thief of living. The jagged edges are used to working alone and dealing with Osaron alone, but somehow it finds a way to work with Delilah and even Kell; Delilah with her false eye and penchant for pissing off the most people in a room and Kell who had sacrificed his own life to save his brother, a tether that couldn’t be broken. The three of them were broken enough that they almost fit together.

 

Delilah can take care of herself, he reminds himself as he takes the kiss, feeling her fingers dig into his sides. It’s only by the precarious understanding they have that she hasn’t attacked any soft parts or moved from where he held her down. He knows that she knows no one kept her down unless she intended it to, understanding it was lust combined with pent-up anxiety and aggression as they all walked to their deaths. While he was prepared to die, Kell and Delilah weren’t. Between the three of them, two of them were willing to do whatever it took to survive while he was willing to take the very real possibility of death if it meant they could win. The three of them had seen better days, their magic still untested versus his own. He feels aged in ways they don’t - torture did that to anyone but there’s something about them that gives the possibility of surviving fuel to burn inside. That they could actually defeat Osaron. But they had to learn make the sharp edges work and if Delilah weren’t so new, he thinks this would be going a lot easier. As it stands, she doesn’t. She finally gives a shove to him as she pushes him off her to a position where they’re face to face on their knees, tearing off her shirt and raising an eyebrow at him, but not _him_.

 

“Are you going to get involved or are you just gonna stand there with your mouth open?” She throws to Kell as she’s all but moved onto ripping his own shirt off. There’s still fury laced through her actions but part of it is only actually active and the rest is what he’s come to find out about Delilah Bard. She’s got a tempest inside of her, a body in constant motion, going through life like those knives she likes.  

 

While those knives set him on edge, a reminder of the twins, she aimed to kill. And that’s what reminds him that she’s most like an arrow, with an aim that is straight and true and never to take sick pleasure like the twins did. He still doesn’t trust her with a knife in his distance, but he’d rather she have her back up against his than against. 

 

He pulls her back down, dragging his teeth across her neck as she pushes and rubs up against him. 

 

-

 

Kell watches as the two of them fly across the ship’s floor. She’s a cyclone but Holland is better - naturally having experience on them, but she keeps up with him, making him work for the victory. That is, until he sees her grab her arm in a twist and sees the snarl on her face mixed with a grin that promised retribution. Then she took them both down, barely able to read the words that dance across her lips before she kisses him and the thread inside of him unravels at the sight. It was a stupid idea to suggest, _intimacy_ of all the things to get them to work better, as if he’d forgotten what happened when he found out that Lila was with _Alucard Emery_ of all people and had assumed the worst. Alucard, who had seduced his brother and then left him. He knew he couldn’t do anything to Lila that she couldn’t handle, rather kill him than let him leave her a mess, but he hadn’t known that about their relationship. Instead all he felt was a flash of anger strike inside of him that Alucard even knew Lila. Which was stupid, but Lila brought out many emotions inside of him, all at once and all which made him very stupid. And seeing her with Holland bought another strange pang inside, awe-striking and possessive as he watched thunder and lightning in front of him. She hooks a leg around Holland, gaining the advantage until Holland pulls her down under, making her arch from where he can see. It's another dance, riling her up before setting her loose while he watches the deep breaths Lila takes in to making eye-contact with him

 

He’s riveted by the sight of the two of them, watches their striking figures against the pale sunlight of the day before he takes off his jacket and puts it aside. He sees Lila roll her eyes at him, fondness and exasperation as she turns from him back to Holland, watching her as she looks at him like he’s something to break into. Holland watches her lazily, pulling her closely to slide a hand inside of her pants. She catches his wrist, a narrowing of her eyes as he quirks an eyebrow, a silent language in facial expressions amongst people who had trained themselves to not be so...expressive.

 

He enters into their tangled embrace, holding Lila closer to him even as Holland’s got his hand splayed across the front of her pants and making it so she leans forward into him. His fingers flutter across her torso and her breasts, feeling rather than seeing the hitch of her breath and how she bares her neck to the air.

 

-

 

Lila’s starting to get a little bit pissed that the need that’s been clawing it’s way through her hasn’t been eased. The magic thrums inside of her, a weird feeling like they’re all in a snowglobe where someone shakes it and the magic, or flakes, flutter and float inside. Holland is aggravating and infuriating and she doesn’t trust him as far as she can throw him. But they were bound to each other for the time being and they needed to make this work; she played for keeps, and her life wasn't something she bet on lightly. She always had a way to make the lot cast at her work, if not quite a plan, but something, in case the spot was tight. However, everything about this plan was cut down to the wire. It was either defeat Osaron or let the world be plunged into darkness. It didn’t mean she couldn’t have some fun in between, revel in the basic concept of being alive if her days were numbered. The biggest trick she pulls on others is believing she didn’t fear death - she did absolutely, an itchy presence inside of her daily but it’s itchier now especially after the knife attack. Where she all but danced right into the jaws of death and Holland had been the one to keep her from meeting the maker. Holland, who had saved her - Holland, who could have left her to die; Holland, who was the reason they were in this. She was indebted to him and hated him for creating that debt. She knocks him off his balance, baring her teeth at him as he created delicious friction inside of her pants. Slickness coats his palm, soaking through her as she whispers against the air, refusing to beg anything from him but angling for more friction against the fingers he has inside. 

 

“Not so fast,” he breathes into the space they share, pushing her up against Kell who decided to show up. He holds her back and presses kisses into her neck, licking and biting, sweeter than Holland had been. Holland’s hands work slower now, taking his time as he pulls out of her folds and goes back in slowly as she dug her nails into Kell's thighs.

 

It’s a tight fit, the three of them pressed up against a wall of the ship and each other. For the small crew, there seems to be no one left but them here. To think the fate of everything was in their hands, a trio of badly fucked up people. She ignores that voice, lets herself get carried by the rush that is Holland’s hands inside her and Kell at her back, categorizing the scars that mark his chest like a map. The Dane Twins were there, the scars snarled, causing her own anger to flare up. Whatever her personal feelings towards Holland where, it didn’t piss her off as much as the anger she felt towards the twins, the retrospective knowledge that they were simply precursors to the Shadow King. If only someone had stopped this from spiralling, she grits out as Holland slows again, his eyes meeting hers with a piercing realization that she felt anger at the scars.

 

“Harder,” she grits out, rolling her hips against Holland’s fingers. They’re not like Kell’s, which are slender and brushed against her tentatively but surely. Holland, a pain in the ass, wasn't half-bad looking but being this acquainted with his hands wasn't something that she envisioned in her future. Even after the multiple death threats and the constant sniping they continued. Kell’s at her back, a soft place as the boat rocks. They’re careful not to mess with the balance of the ship, while they work on theirs. The sensation is odd, being pulled in two directions to find equilibrium. They all have to find it and fasten themselves onto it. Instead, she thinks of how Holland’s fingers are thicker, calloused and could be so much greater if they were faster. He reads her mind as he moves inside her wetness faster, pushing her to the brink.

 

"Come for me Delilah," he comes closer, whispering at the edge of her lips just as a strangled noise comes out when he hits a spot inside of her. She loosens a grip on Kell as she rakes a hand across Holland's hair, digging in as she holds him to her mouth to kiss him, teeth clattering as his tongue moves inside of her. He may think her a nuisance and she’s fine with it, glad that she can kiss him with both her fist and her mouth.

 

So she decides to shift their balance a bit more, hauling Holland closer as she unfastens the top of his pants and sticks her hands to grip his shaft.

 

-

 

Thieves fingers, that’s what she has. Kell has the hands of a bird, all slender and still soft. Delilah’s fingers are meant to find things quickly, effectively. He slows down inside of her, curious to see what she’s attempting with their entanglement. She pushes back onto Kell, the ease between the two of them part of the grounding of this balancing act. It was against common logic that the Kell would fall fast for Delilah, that Delilah herself who spoke of self-interest and fit much better amongst the shadows would find an anchor in Kell. He’d never had that self-assuredness tied into someone. Of course there was a hollow feeling left he had felt; once, after Talya and another time after Vortalis but it wasn’t something he couldn’t work around, that he could push aside. As Antari, it wasn’t their lot to sail off into the sunset but these two were careless and cared for each other far too much. That familiar feeling of hope bubbles again, something that’s undoubtedly due to the two of them. He feels the same pang again, of times with Talya, before she turned and tried to kill him; how Delilah was almost reminiscent of her. Her hands, while slender and quick, are new against his shaft, his free hand gripping his own thigh. He moves his free hand that’s gripping his leg to Delilah’s hand inside of him, hearing her sharp inhale as his fingers curl around hers and make a jerking upwards motion. She sighs, briefly before she lets go and ducks down quickly to mouth at him. His hand grips at her shoulder, the feeling of her tight mouth around him causing all his thoughts to stop. He feels the bob of her head, an alternation of fast and slow as her tongue runs up and down. His hand gripping at her hair once more as she takes him in further and further. It’s a feeling that’ll be burned into his memory, remembering that once he had felt the simple pleasure of physical intimacy. He comes hard and fast inside of Delilah’s mouth, hearing a gag and she pulls off spitting out part of it and brushing the rest from the corner of her mouth that it leaves her mouth glistening. 

 

-

 

This was easily the worst idea he’s had. And the best, but mostly the worst at how Holland and Lila had gotten on like oil and fire with it. It was a long shot and could have ended in more bloodshed, but he was at the end of his rope and whatever personal disagreements they had needed to be placed aside in order to master the binding ring connection. But then she went down on Holland and something inside of him unraveled, feeling a lot like a third wheel that’s been discarded. He wanted to feel Lila, and maybe Holland, but given their history was content to leave that to her; she had no fear. And if she still wanted to kill Holland after this, at least he tried to minimize the damage. He pulls her so she's more at him, turning so she's at Holland's back and her expression looks dazed.

 

“Hey,” she yelps, eyes alight as she remembers where she’s at, who she's wish. The grip on Lila makes it so she's held in place by two people, watching as Holland breaths roughly on her neck and they're watching him.  

 

“I’m not anyone’s,” she exhales, feeling wary of the new position she’s in. She’s never liked being pressed up against a wall, her mind constantly running through scenarios where she has to know where all the exits are and when to keep her distance from people that meant her harm. It doesn’t mean that pressed up against Holland while Kell is at her legs is an uncomfortable feeling, that it's unwanted, but it is a lot to process. Stars, she can barely keep up. Everything has left her mind besides the feeling of life buzzing through her, their bodies warm enough that the cool sea air doesn’t touch them as the blaze that burns between the three of them keeps her warmer. She can almost feel their scars along with her own as if the antari binding rings had done more than bind their magic - bound their souls in a way in an object of unknown power and potential would do. It would exactly be in line with their shitty half good-half bad luck they’ve had so far - and the boat rocks but not as much as it should. No doubt Holland’s doing, who had more experience and control than both of them, but what he had in experience they added to it with untapped raw magic and skill. She relaxes slightly against Holland, watching as Kell goes to her pants and pulls them down. She sighs, slumping more but Holland doesn’t let her, wrapping an arm around her middle to keep her from going to floor. He keeps her so she watches Kell at her opening, pushing back against Holland as she arches when his tongue enters. She's already been driven mad, doesn't think she can do it again before Holland's hands are running up and down her sides. Like he's calming her? But there was no time to be shocked by Holland, not when she had him in her mouth already. Kell’s mouth is a talented thing, knowing her body like a map he memorized and teases her to the brink. Holland makes it so she's kept together, groaning as Kell hits the area that causes everything in her mind to blackout, bucking under his mouth. The growl that’s building in her throat threatens to leap out before Holland gets a hand to her mouth. Teeth sinking into his palm, the shout is muffled instead of reverberating through the ship. At this point however, the others had to have known what was going on in their training area that they’ve left a wide berth for them.

 

-

 

Finally Lila is on top of him, he watches as she pushes him off of her and straddles him. Holland is behind her still, a vice-like grip on her middle as she moves against his pants and Holland’s wet a finger and teasing it between her nipples. They're both watching him, the feeling of being caught present. Then there's the stuttering of her hips that reminds him of his own sensation, feeling two pairs of hands pulling at his own pants as she descends upon him while Holland watches. The slick heat of her rub against him all the while Holland twists at the rosy buds of her breasts, watching as she's riding him a lot faster than he imagined and baring her neck to the sea and to Holland. While she moves on him almost wildly, Holland sits at his legs, still holding Lila down like she'd leave. It's odd, they were similar to each other. He thinks it's why they don't get along so well. Lila who seem to be dedicated to making this as deliciously painful as possible grinds down on him, a choked up noise rising inside of her as Holland continues playing with her breasts while his own hands hold her thighs that have clenched against him. He presses his own palm to his mouth to keep his shout in as Lila braces her forearms against his chest, her breaths against his chest. Holland’s grip on Lila loosens but still stay at her middle, looking off balance. He’d seen the man cornered, beaten, and broken but this was a new look on his face.

 

“Did that help?” She asks, turning to the two of them quickly. The three of them exhale as the boat rocks silently through the waves. The three of them still buzzing sure as they'd all felt the surge of magic had taken over and clicked, having them together for one moment. The magic still pulses inside and no one answers her.


End file.
